One Crazy Summer is not a serious film; it’s a comedy with a cartoonish style, but it’s a wonderful example of what such an exaggeratedly wacky movie should be. Starting on the foundation of the basic 1980s screwball comedy, it transcends the other B movies of that genre with its characters and its own unique laugh-out-loud moments.

Bobcat Goldthwait in particular steals the show as Egg Stork, but he’s still there to back up the main character Hoops McCann (John Cusack), whose own cartoon creations–the cute and fuzzy bunnies–are determined to thwart his quest to find love. The standard ’80s comedy elements come into play with Cassandra (Demi Moore), who’s trying to save her grandfather’s house from a nasty stereotype villain who wants to build a lobster restaurant in its place. Everything seems to click pretty well in the movie; it doesn’t have any dull spots and the humor stays pretty fresh even at a second and third viewing. It’s become one of my perennial favorites.

There are some especially worthwhile moments, mostly due to Bobcat’s wonderful zaniness. The Godzilla scene alone makes the movie memorable. The cartoons drawn by Cusack’s character appear now and then to illustrate how his search for love is going; those cute and fuzzy bunnies are vicious.

Parents take note: This is family fare; feel free to watch it with your kids. There’s nothing really objectionable in the movie, and Demi stays dressed for a change. It’s plenty funny without being raunchy, which is fairly refreshing. If you like a good top-of-the-line goofy B movie as much as I do, One Crazy Summer belongs in your collection. I can’t wait for it to appear on DVD.

This is the follow up movie by “Savage” Steve Holland to his 1985 movie — “Better Off Dead.” I have to admit that of the two, “Better Off Dead” is the one I like more, but “One Crazy Summer” certainly has it’s moments.

In this film John Cusack plays a newly graduated HS student who never met his folks’ expectations as a basketball player. All he really wants to do is to go to art school. In order to get a break from his folks he takes off with his buddy for a summer on Nantuckett. There he meets up with a young Demi Moore who is trying to find a way to save her granfather’s home. Thus, the set-up.

Cusack is looking for love, but can never seem to find it. Teen trauma if ever there was one. With that all brewing in the background we meet a suite of characters who make the show flow along, and who provide lots and lots of comic relief.

Scenes to watch for include: Godzilla invades the tea-party; Cusack at the drive-in with Cookie; and the yacht race.

There’s a lot of silliness in this film, but it’s great fun. A completely enjoyable experience! Pairing this film with “Better Off Dead” would make a great offering for a video party. They are fun and watchable!

This is one of those movies that played endlessly on HBO, and I remembered it quite fondly. One day I threw it in the VCR and surprised myself by laughing almost nonstop through the whole thing.

Sure, it seems a cookie-cutter comedy from the eighties, and it is, but look! the craziness!

The brilliance of the movie is how it’s situations keep slowly escalating into pure comic insanity. Sure everybody remembers Bobcat Goldthwait rampaging in a Godzilla costume, but the seeds for the scene were presented about fifteen minutes ago and there was an uninterrupted continuity that took us from there to here. This is pretty amazing for a “cookie-cutter” comedy.

Really, it’s this sense of mayhem that keeps bringing me back to the movie. Mayhem. That’s what I want out of comedies, and this is one of its epitomes. This and GREMLINS 2.

But who cares about that? This movie brings the funny. What more could you ask for? No thanks to all the cute and fuzzy bunnies in the world.